Floss // A Harry Styles AU

ten

We drove out to the Sherborne Park Estate at around lunchtime, parked up, and began walking. We started easy, far enough that Bongo would exert some energy for when we stopped to eat, but not so much that we'd be carrying him around for the rest of the day.

We walked through the centre of the park first, through the woods and around to the village. In the village we had lunch in the local and always popular tea room, charging up ready for the rest of the afternoon. From the village we did a huge loop, walking east all the way to River Windrush and then following it along to the Watermeadows, and finally back down to the car park through the common and Picardy Copse.

It was a beautiful day for a walk like that, and a beautiful day to celebrate my baby's birthday with her new best friend.

Bongo was incredibly well-behaved for such a young puppy. People stopped constantly to give him attention, and he lapped it up like any good boy would. He never barked, he never jumped, he never bit, he never growled. He just basked in his new life of being the most popular dog around. In the car on the way back he stretched across the backseat, with his chin resting on Ruby's knee and his paws poking into my thigh.

I was overly conscious about our nighttime routine with him. While he was so young I wanted him to stay in his penn because I'd read horror stories about sofas being destroyed and fridges being raided. I was desperate for that not to happen.

"Mummy, can he sleep with me in my bed tonight?" Ruby asked in the evening just before I was about to put her to bed. She was sitting at the end of the sofa with the dog in her lap, stroking over the top of his head.

"We need to get him used to his cage, muffin. If we let him sleep wherever he wants to he won't be disciplined when he's older and he'll be too big for that."

"Oh," she pouted, a devastated sigh leaving her. She never argued any further.

I went up with her, resting my head on the side of her bed while she talked herself to sleep. Bongo had decided to join us but I wouldn't let him on the bed, so he sat next to me, ferociously wagging his tail. Once Ruby was safely off, I took the puppy back downstairs with me.

"You've had a long day, haven't you, mate?" I chuckled as he stretched out next me, his chin on my thigh. I stroked him from his head to his back over and over.

I watched TV for a little while longer, but I was tired too and eventually decided to go up early.

I ushered Bongo into the penn, gave him a couple of chin scratches and a peck on the head, and then dropped some biscuits into his bed. Obviously he ate the treats without question, and I made my escape.

Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, he started whimpering. I stalled, guilted but the sound. My chest tightened and I tried not to turn back to him to give him the attention he wanted. I was out of sight so he didn't know that I'd stopped, and I waited to see if he would calm down.

I knew the longer I waited listening to him the more likely I would be to give in to him, so I marched upstairs and pretended I hadn't heard it. I readied for bed and tucked myself in, dozy as soon as my head hit the pillow.

It was quiet. All I could hear was the wind whistling through the houses from the field. I didn't hear a car, I didn't hear a conversation, and I didn't hear the puppy downstairs.

Until he barked.

When he started barking, it wasn't fully formed. It was like those little yappy things you hear on dogs that are smaller than cats. But it was still loud, and I was scared Ruby would wake.

I whined and sat up, throwing the covers off me. I hurried back downstairs while making as little noise as I possibly could, and sat on my knees in front of the puppy before he could make another sound.